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Secret of Mana Magic and Spell Guide
Version 1.2
Serenitys_Cat, Resident Feline on the Firefly-Class Transport Serenity
First Posted 09/07/2009
Table of Contents
1.0 Version History
2.0 Introduction
3.0 Terms and Formats
4.0 The Elemental Spirits
4.1 Undine
4.2 Gnome
4.3 Sylphid
4.4 Salamando
4.5 Shade
4.6 Lumina
4.7 Luna
4.8 Dryad
5.0 Frequently Asked Questions
6.0 Credits and Disclaimers
************************
1.0 Version History
************************
Version History:
- Version 1.3
Corrected several damage inconsistencies and updated my opinions of some
spells and their usefulness.
- Version 1.2
Smoothed out some wording and fixed the effect of Evil Gate, which I
apparently had wrong all this time! Who knew?
- Version 1.1
Fixed some inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the document.
- Version 1.0
Initial release.
*********************
2.0 Introduction
*********************
Greetings and salutations to you all. I am Serenitys_Cat, follower of fantasy
and fiction, and this is my first FAQ on GameFAQs. Yay!
This is a guide written to describe the various effects and usages of the
many fantastic spells in that marvelous game, Secret of Mana. I have played
this game many a time, and I have noticed in myself that in a typical
playthrough, I never used anything other than the offensive elemental spells
of the Sprite and the Cure Water spell of the Girl to get me through. Now this
can win you the game perfectly adequately, without any trouble or fuss.
However, there are forty-eight spells in this game, each with a unique and
bedazzling effect, and to only go through the game using seven of them is a
terrible shame.
In order to help other players not make this same saddening mistake that I
have made so many times, I have here compiled the effects and various uses of
all forty-eight spells in the game. How many MP does Dark Force cost? Can you
multitarget Moon Energy? What is the only spell that can be cast on treasure
chests? The answers to all these questions and more can be found in this
document.
I sincerely hope it will prove of use to you on your journey to save Mana.
-Serenitys_Cat
**************************
3.0 Terms and Formats
**************************
I have this guide set up as follows. Under the heading of each elemental
spirit, I address the Sprite and the Girl's spells separately. Each spell also
has its own separate section.
NAME OF SPELL (MP Cost)
Purpose: What effect the spell has.
Offensive spells cause damage.
Statistics spells affect parameters such as ATK and DEF.
Healing spells restore HP or MP.
Curative spells remove status ailments from your allies.
Saber magic enchants the target's weapons.
Status effects place various conditions upon the targets.
Multitarget: Whether the spell can target multiple targets with one casting.
Note that damage dealt by spells is split between all targets, so
a spell that does 100 damage to one target will do 50 each to two
targets or 25 each to four targets.
Stackable: This refers to a phenomenon where a spell has such a long animation
time that the caster can cast the same spell again before damage is
actually dealt. This "stacks" the damage, preventing the enemy from
moving and forcing it to cumulatively absorb the damage of every
spell cast, up to a maximum of 999. This means you can force a 20-
HP Rabite to take 999 damage from a series of seven stacked Lava
Wave spells. Stackable spells generally make leveling up a spirit
substantially easier, because you can find one enemy and cast spells
until your MP runs out instead of finding a new enemy for each cast.
Added Effects: Clarification of the spell's effect, i.e. "Lowers DEF" or
"Revives fallen ally."
I will then finish the spell off with a full description of its effects and
several occasions where it might prove useful.
Enough talk. On with the show!
******************************
4.0 The Elemental Spirits
******************************
#############
4.1 UNDINE
#############
Undine is the first spirit you receive power from. The Sprite will usually
stop using Undine magic against anything except ice-vulnerable bosses once it
receives the power of Gnome, but the Girl will be using Undine magic until the
final boss battle, owing to the restorative powers of Cure Water. Essentially,
Undine is a primarily curative spirit, so don't expect much offensive punch
out of her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
UNDINE - SPRITE VERSION
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FREEZE (2 MP)
Purpose: Offensive
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: No
Added Effects: None
Ah, Freeze. The first spell in the game, and usually the only one people use
until they free Gnome. Freeze is the first of what I call the "cheap spells":
the stackable elemental spells with high damage output and a nice, cheap, 2-MP
casting cost. Much to my surprise, however, it is also the strongest of said
"cheap spells," dishing out the most damage of all the 2-MP spells - almost as
much as the 3-MP Earth Slide! There aren't really that many enemies weak to
Undine throughout the game, but a lot of the ones that are (Red Drop, Emberman)
are pretty damn annoying, so one cheap blast of Freeze in such situations can
go an awfully long way, probably further than you were expecting. I think most
people forget about Freeze as soon as they get Gnome - an error I am certainly
guilty of myself - but in actuality, you should be using it throughout the
entire game as one of your cheapest and most reliable damaging spells.
ACID STORM (3 MP)
Purpose: Offensive/ Statistics
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: No
Added Effects: Lowers DEF
This is one of those spells that’s good in theory, but not so good in practice.
Acid Storm does water-based damage - slightly less than Freeze - and lowers the
defense of everything it hits. This sounds like it would be great on bosses,
but in truth magic is so much more powerful than physical attacks in this game
that the extra damage added by the defense-down status is not going to surpass
the damage of simply casting two Freeze spells. And let's not even go into the
uselessness of using Acid Storm on non-boss enemies. If you're going to use
Acid Storm at all, it'll be early in the game, when the Sprite doesn't have
enough MP to chain-cast bosses to death; bosses like Kilroy and Jabberwocky
may outlast the Sprite's MP pool, so using Acid Storm to increase the physical
damage you'll do after the Sprite is done casting isn't a bad idea. However,
from around the Great Viper onward, you'll probably never cast this spell
again.
HP ABSORB (2 MP)
Purpose: Offensive/ Healing
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: No
Added Effects: Drains HP equal to damage done; never deals more damage than the
target's current HP
Freeze may be the most-used Undine spell, but to be perfectly honest, HP Absorb
is probably the best. As you probably could have guessed, HP Absorb drains HP
from its target and heals the Sprite for an equal amount. However, since HP
Absorb can actually be MULTITARGETED, you can sap HP from multiple enemies at
the same time, easily fully healing the Sprite. Although this spell doesn't do
as much damage as Freeze (and, for the record, will NEVER do more damage than
an enemy has HP remaining,) the added healing effect is well worth it. Just be
sure you never cast this spell on an undead enemy such as a Zombie, however, or
else the absorption will be reversed and the Sprite will actually LOSE HP.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
UNDINE - GIRL VERSION
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
CURE WATER (2 MP)
Purpose: Healing
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: No
Added Effects: Restores HP
Here we have the best spell in the game, no competition. Cure Water simply
restores HP to your allies. It is cheap, it is multitargetable, and it is
ridiculously effective. Always make leveling Undine for the Girl your first
priority, simply to max out the recovery powers of Cure Water; no player
should go without it.
REMEDY (1 MP)
Purpose: Curative
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: No
Added Effects: Removes all status effects except Dead
Remedy is always comforting to have around, but in reality, you'll probably be
using it to get rid of status effects from trapped treasure boxes more often
than from enemies. There really aren't many enemies that cause status effects,
and by far the most common one - Moogle - can be cured with the Moogle Belt
instead of Remedy anyway. This does not mean that Remedy is useless, however.
Remedy has a power you might not expect; during its (LONG) spell animation, the
targets are immune to damage. If you can tell that your enemy is charging up a
powerful spell or attack, cast Remedy on your party; as long as the attack
completes while your characters are surrounded in Remedy’s blue shimmer, you
will take no damage.
ICE SABER (2 MP)
Purpose: Saber magic
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: No
Added Effects: Adds “Frosty” property to weapons
Ice Saber enchants your weapons with ice magic, adding the Water property to
your physical attacks and causing them to sometimes Snowman their targets. Ice
Saber is handy because Snowman enemies cannot move or attack, which means if
you can Snowman all enemies on screen, you can run away from them all without
fear of reprisal, allowing you to swiftly travel through long dungeons such as
the Earth Palace. Snowmen are sadly invulnerable to all attacks made on them,
so you can’t sneak some damage on them the way you can with Balloon, but Ice
Saber can still be a lifesaver if you really need to get back to town and
there is a horde of enemies in your way (Earth Palace, I'm looking at you!)
############
4.2 GNOME
############
Gnome is notable for giving the Sprite its first power spell (Earth Slide,) but
really offers little else. Although Defender is often lauded as a must-use
spell, I find it quite pointless in comparison to Speed Up, let alone Lucid
Barrier.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GNOME - SPRITE VERSION
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GEM MISSILE (2 MP)
Purpose: Offensive
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: Yes
Added Effects: None
Gem Missile is slightly weaker than Freeze, but is otherwise identical, being
a 2-MP spell that can target all enemies and be stacked on bosses. There are
very few enemies weak to Earth to take advantage of it with, but most of those
enemies are bosses and therefore important targets to use magic against, and
conversely there are also very few enemies strong against Earth to resist this
spell either, whereas many enemies resist Undine. If you don't know/ have the
elemental weakness of an enemy, the 2-MP spells are usually the spells you'll
want to default to, and Gem Missile is usually a safe bet due to the rarity of
earth-resistant enemies, so I'm pretty fond of it. (It also has one of my
favorite level-8.99 spell animations.)
EARTH SLIDE (3 MP)
Purpose: Offensive
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: Yes
Added Effects: None
Earth Slide gets a lot of hype because, as a 3-MP spell, you'd expect it to be
stronger than Freeze or Gem Missile, and you get it right before you fight
several Earth-weak bosses in a row, making it a seemingly attractive option.
In reality, however, Gem Missile is FAR more cost effective and Freeze is
actually almost as powerful, making this poor spell nigh-obsolete in any real
practical sense. You should never actually have to cast Earth Slide except to
fulfill the needs of those annoying Crystal Orbs that require it. (It IS worth
casting at least once at level 8.99 just to see the boosted animation, though,
this I will admit!)
SLOW DOWN (1 MP)
Purpose: Statistics
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: Yes
Added Effects: Lowers SPD, HIT, EVD
Slow Down is pretty worthless for the most part. It lowers three statistics,
but unfortunately, none of those statistics are that useful. Most enemies’
evasion is far too low already for you to need to lower it further. However,
there are a few enemies Slow Down is quite useful against, among them Chess
Knights and all of the Drop enemies, and of course, its low MP cost and lack of
damage makes it the ideal Gnome-leveling spell.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
GNOME - GIRL VERSION
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
DEFENDER (2 MP)
Purpose: Statistics
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: No
Added Effects: Raises DEF
Like Acid Storm, Defender is a spell that is better on paper than in practice.
Defender raises your defensive powers, meaning you take less damage from enemy
physical attacks; however, it doesn’t last too long, meaning that you’ll have
to be casting it constantly for it to be of much use. You would expect Defender
to be useful during boss battles, but by the time the Girl’s Gnome magic is on
a level that makes Defender last long enough to be efficient, most bosses will
ignore physical attacks in favor of magical ones. To make things even worse,
Lumina's Lucid Barrier will simply block all physical attacks, period, making
Defender completely useless right at the point where it might have otherwise
started lasting long enough to consider.
SPEED UP (3 MP)
Purpose: Statistics
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: No
Added Effects: Raises HIT, EVD
Speed Up grants a boost to HIT - although I've heard this aspect of the spell
is bugged - and EVD. A high-leveled Speed Up spell will allow you to evade just
about any physical attack thrown your way without problem. Unfortunately, Speed
Up is limited early on by its short period of duration; although this will
change as Gnome grows in experience, by that point Speed Up will be outshone
(somewhat literally) by Lumina's Lucid Barrier, which just blocks all physical
attacks outright. Speed Up is thus a good spell without the room to perform as
it deserves. I often feel rather sorry for it.
STONE SABER (4 MP)
Purpose: Saber magic
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: No
Added Effects: Adds “Petrify” property to weapons
To enemies, Petrify equals instant death. That’s right: Stone Saber enables you
to one-hit kill everything you poke. Granted, the rate of petrification isn’t
nearly as good as Ice Saber’s rate of frostification, but instant death is
quite a bit more powerful than frostification anyways, so I’d say that it evens
out. This is unequivocally the best Saber to be using when you’re fighting your
way through a long, difficult dungeon (coughcough-Pandora Ruins-coughcough).
However, since bosses cannot be petrified, switch this Saber for another when
entering the boss' chamber - unless the boss is weak to earth, of course.
##############
4.3 SYLPHID
##############
Sylphid is the first spirit who gives the Girl a seriously dangerous spell,
in — of all things — Balloon. To the Sprite, Sylphid doesn’t offer nearly as
much; only the prosaic Air Blast and the overpriced Thunderbolt.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SYLPHID - SPRITE VERSION
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AIR BLAST (2 MP)
Purpose: Offensive
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: No
Added Effects: None
Although Air Blast is kind of cool to watch, it is unfortunately not stackable,
which puts it at a disadvantage in comparison to the other "cheap spells." In
spite of this, however, if you're smart, you'll find yourself using Air Blast a
lot. A surprising amount of bosses are weak to Sylphid’s magic, and since Air
Blast is half as expensive as Thunderbolt and about 0.80% as powerful, it is by
far the more cost-efficient way to eliminate such bosses. Otherwise, put this
spell on the shelf in favor of Freeze or Gem Missile.
THUNDERBOLT (4 MP)
Purpose: Offensive
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: Yes
Added Effects: None
Thunderbolt is supposed to be some sort of power-nuke spell, but it utterly
fails at this. It does about the same damage as Earth Slide for an extra magic
point, and when you have Air Blast for half the cost, you should never have to
use this spell for anything. If you really want to nuke something, go for
Burst, not this overpriced livewire.
SILENCE (2 MP)
Purpose: Status effect
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: No
Added Effects: Prevents magic use, reverses control pad directions
Silence is an often-forgotten spell that... kind of deserves to be forgotten.
Despite the name, its effect is that it confuses your enemies, causing them to
move in the opposite direction as they would normally and forget that they can
use spells. In and of itself, this isn’t a bad effect — great for preventing
Burst spells from Mad Mallards, for example — except Sylphid grants the Girl
the Balloon spell, which is superior to Silence in every way. Let the Sprite
stick to killing things; immobilizing them is the Girl’s domain.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
SYLPHID - GIRL VERSION
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
ANALYZE (1 MP)
Purpose: Informative
Multitarget: No
Stackable: Yes
Added Effects: Shows enemy/ Crystal Orb weaknesses, reveal traps
Analyze is a useful little spell that will show you an enemies’ stats, a
Crystal Orb’s weak element, or whether a treasure chest is trapped or not. Any
respectable guide will make Analyze’s first two uses superfluous, but there is
no other way to ascertain whether a treasure chest is trapped or not aside from
opening it, at which point it’s too late. When you first enter a new area, be
sure to Analyze every treasure chest that drops to ensure you don’t end up
unconscious or petrified. (Incidentally, Analyze is the ONLY spell in the game
that can target treasure chests. Now you know!)
BALLOON (2 MP)
Purpose: Status effect
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: Yes
Added Effects: Prevents enemy action and movement
Balloon is inarguably one of the game's top five spells. For a measly 2 MP, you
can immobilize all enemies on the screen. They can’t move, they can’t attack,
and they cannot defend themselves in any way while you whale away at them to
your heart’s content. When it wears off, you can recast it again — and again,
and again, and again, as many times as it takes. Balloon seems to work on just
about any enemy, albeit not on bosses; however, it really doesn’t need to
affect bosses to make itself the Girl’s ultimate and often overlooked weapon.
It may not do any damage, but then, it doesn’t need to. Give Balloon a try.
You will not be disappointed. (Also, its level 8.99 spell animation turns the
common red balloon into a GIANT MOOGLE BALLOON. BEST SPELL EVER.)
THUNDER SABER (3 MP)
Purpose: Saber magic
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: No
Added Effects: Raises critical hit rate (debatable; see description)
If you have no idea what the elemental weakness of your enemy is (or if they
just don't have one) but you still really want to apply a Saber effect for some
reason, you might as well go with Thunder Saber. It has no added status effect,
but it does raise your critical hit rate, and the natural damage boost applied
by Saber magic is still in place. It’s good for dealing a lot of damage very
quickly, which makes it handy, but difficult to say much else about.
I've heard conflicting things about the Thunder Saber spell since writing this
guide. User Regrs has informed me that Thunder Saber actually does nothing
other than provide the basic Saber attack boost, and I read elsewhere that
Thunder Saber can cause Balloon. I've never seen Thunder Saber cause Balloon,
and I was quite sure that I deal more critical hits when Thunder Saber on than
off, but that could very easily be coincidence. In short, Thunder Saber's real
effect is a little up in the air and might be nothing at all.
################
4.4 SALAMANDO
################
Salamando is notable for striking the weakness of a good fifth of the enemies
in the game, and also for actually giving the Girl her first direct offensive
spells.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SALAMANDO - SPRITE VERSION
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FIREBALL (2 MP)
Purpose: Offensive
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: No
Added Effects: None
Salamando is offensive, offensive, offensive! There are very minor differences
between the three Salamando spells of the Sprite; Fireball is the cheapest, the
middle-most effective in damage, and the only one that does not stack. The
inability to stack it makes it pretty useless in the long run for anything
other than building Salamando levels for minimum MP. It's strong enough to be
worth using on generic enemies you can one-shot with it, but all in all it's
pretty meh in comparison to its big brothers. (At least until it hits level
8.99 and gets its incredibly amazing animation upgrade. At that point it is
superior in aesthetics if nothing else.)
LAVA WAVE (3 MP)
Purpose: Offensive
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: Yes
Added Effects: None
As Lava Wave is stackable, it is simultaneously the best boss-killer and the
fastest (if not cheapest) leveling spell Salamando has to offer. To make up
for this, Lava Wave does less damage than Exploder or Fireball, making it only
worth using if you're ready to stack it up to high heaven. However, since that
is probably your goal if you're using magic on a target, then this quality
makes Lava Wave my fire spell of choice. Learn to "lava" it! </bricked
EXPLODER (4 MP)
Purpose: Offensive
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: Yes
Added Effects: None
The strongest of the MANY fire magic spells, Exploder sadly isn't strong enough
to warrant actual usage when Lava Wave's around. In the same vein as Air Blast
and Thunderbolt or Gem Missile and Earth Slide, Exploder does not do enough
damage over Lava Wave to justify the increased MP cost, unless you for some
reason have less than 6 MP left and no MP restoration available. Leave this
spell alone except for the times you are confronted by a Crystal Orb that
demands its usage.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
SALAMANDO - GIRL VERSION
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
FLAME SABER (2 MP)
Purpose: Saber magic
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: No
Added Effects: Adds "Engulf" property to weapons
Although your characters cannot poison enemies, they can Engulf them through
the Girl's Flame Saber, and Engulf is really much more useful. A combination
Poison and Paralyze spell, Engulfed enemies can neither move nor attack while
their HP helplessly ticks away. Flame Saber thus does damage AND stuns enemies
while simultaneously targeting the weakness of a majority of the enemies in
the game. This is definitely a worthy Saber spell.
FIRE BOUQUET (3 MP)
Purpose: Offensive/ Statistics
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: No
Added Effects: Lowers ATK
At long last, the Girl can cause direct damage with her spells! They have lower
damage multipliers, so she won't do as much damage as the Sprite, but she
still can hold her own in random battles. Fire Bouquet is a lovely little spell
that reduces the offensive powers of the enemies it hits; against powerful
enemies, such as Beast Zombies or Needlions, Fire Bouquet will at least reduce
their ATK power even if it doesn't kill them. It's a little pricey, considering
that it doesn't do much damage and the Girl has no MP-absorbing spell as the
Sprite does, but it still has its uses (Lime Slime comes immediately to mind).
BLAZE WALL (4 MP)
Purpose: Offensive/ Status effect
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: No
Added Effect: Prevents enemy action and movement, damages over time
Blaze Wall is another offensive spell for the Girl, but unfortunately, it is
far less satisfactory than Fire Bouquet. For an extra magic point, the Girl
deals LESS damage than Fire Bouquet and sets the Engulf status effect, which
she can cause with less trouble and cost by using Flame Saber and smacking the
enemy around a bit. File this under the "Useless Spell" list and go cast Lava
Wave a few more times to make up for it.
############
4.5 SHADE
############
Shade grants the magic of darkness to the Sprite alone, not to the Girl, making
Darkness the only element to have no Saber spell. This really isn't much of a
loss, since Darkness magic is useful against very few enemies. There is a boss
or two vulnerable to the element, but for the most part, you have little to
lose by neglecting it.
Interestingly, although most people enter the Palace of Darkness after they get
the Flammie Drum (since this is what the story tells them to do,) this is not
required. You may fly to the Gold City and free Lumina first instead, if this
is your wont.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SHADE - SPRITE VERSION
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DARK FORCE (2 MP)
Purpose: Offensive
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: Yes
Added Effect: None
The final "cheap spell" of the game, Dark Force is certainly the dark-magic
spell of choice, but mostly out of necessity rather than any real power. Dark
Force actually does the LEAST damage out of all of the Sprite's spells, across
all MP costs, making it completely ineffectual against anything that isn't
specifically weak to Dark. Near the end of the game, you'll instead be swimming
in enemies that are STRONG against Darkness, leaving Dark Force out in the cold
for a very long time indeed. Don't neglect it completely, as there are a few
bosses (Dread Slime) and some irritating enemies (Terminators) that are indeed
weak to Darkness, and Dark Force can be used upon them with great effect. In
most other situations, however, Dark Force is better left alone.
EVIL GATE (8 MP)
Purpose: Offensive
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: Yes
Added Effect: Damage is based off target's current HP:
([TargetMaxHP + TargetCurrentHP] /2) / (10 - [ElementalLevel / NumTarget])
If the target is a Boss then Damage is always 1.
*Thanks to Regrs for the specifics.
If Revivifier didn't exist, Evil Gate would probably be the most useless spell
in the entire game, and that includes the one-battle-usage-only spell Mana
Magic. For an insane 8 MP, you can deal darkness damage to your enemies based
on their current HP, meaning that any damage you've done so far in the battle
will reduce the damage Evil Gate will end up doing. How many ways can one spell
suck? Most enemies simply do not have the base HP for Evil Gate to do any kind
of respectable damage, and the ones who do - bosses - are immune to it anyway,
in the tradition of Gravity-style magic everywhere. It's stackable, but with a
casting cost of 8, who's going to stack it? And even if you did, each casting
would deal less damage due to the previous casting, completely negating the
point. Evil Gate: providing Schadenfreude for the Acid Storms and Lunar Magics
of the world since 1993.
Pretty much the only redeeming feature to Evil Gate is, once in a while when
cast at level 8.99, instead of the normal animation or the boosted animation
(which are both at least cool, if nothing else,) you will get a secret special
animation wherein, rather than being sucked into a gate of shadows, the enemy
gets trampled by a massive throng of Shadow Zeroes. It's... pretty surprising
the first time it happens, let me tell you!
DISPEL MAGIC (4 MP)
Purpose: Statistics
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: No
Added Effect: Removes positive status effects
When enemies cast Defender or Speed Up on themselves, Dispel Magic is there to
remove it. I usually find enemies' attempts to save themselves with Defender
laughable, but Speed Up can prove annoying. The irritating thing about Dispel
Magic is that it doesn't remove the most important spells you'd want to use it
on: Lucid Barrier and Wall (although it does at least help wear down Wall; see
below). You can easily go through the game without ever needing Dispel Magic,
but on occasion a situation arises where it's nice to have around.
User Regrs was kind enough to inform me that while Dispel Magic brings up a
message saying "Cannot undo Wall!" it does in fact reduce the duration of the
Wall buff, even if it doesn't remove it immediately. This is probably not that
useful in most situations, but it's some nifty trivia to know at least.
#############
4.6 LUMINA
#############
Lumina is an extremely powerful spirit. She can block physical attacks, grant
the power of light onto your weapons, or focus light into the Girl's most
powerful offensive spell in the game: Lucent Beam. Unfortunately, Lumina's
spells are VERY expensive in terms of MP, which makes them very difficult to
level up. Furthermore, only the Girl receives Lumina's blessing, and since the
Girl can't recover her MP through MP Absorb the way the Sprite can, the high MP
cost is a real problem.
Interestingly, although most people enter the Palace of Darkness after they get
the Flammie Drum (since this is what the story tells them to do,) this is not
required. You may fly to the Gold City and free Lumina first instead, if this
is your wont. Note that you MUST have Lumina in order to find Luna in the Moon
Palace.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
LUMINA - GIRL VERSION
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
LUCID BARRIER (4 MP)
Purpose: Status effect
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: No
Added Effect: Blocks all physical attacks
Lucid Barrier is the ultimate protection spell. It blocks every physical attack
your enemies attempt to strike with, rendering you invincible against monsters
with no spellcasting abilities (and, when coupled with Wall, even such magical
monsters have no recourse). Weep for days long gone, Speed Up. Eat your heart
out, Defender. Lucid Barrier brings all the Boys (haha, game joke... yes, I'm
lame, I'm sorry) to the yard.
LIGHT SABER (5 MP)
Purpose: Saber magic
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: No
Added Effect: None
Light Saber is the only Saber spell not to have an added effect (possibly; see
Thunder Saber,) probably because it's the only way for anyone other than the
Girl to do light-elemental damage, which is helpful enough to make it useful
in the endgame. It's even pricier than Stone Saber, though, so make sure you
only use it for bosses; against normal enemies, Ice, Stone, or Moon Saber are
far more useful.
LUCENT BEAM (8 MP)
Purpose: Offensive
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: Yes
Added Effect: None
Considering the lack of strong light-elemental enemies in this game, Lucent
Beam is a very useful spell. Unfortunately, its power is far outclassed by
its MP cost, which is sadly RIDICULOUSLY high. Lucent Beam is the Girl's most
powerful and most useful offensive spell, but it's far too expensive to be
used on anything less than bosses, which is a real pity. (Also, the ultimate
level-8.99 version looks AWESOME.)
###########
4.7 LUNA
###########
Luna is my absolute favorite spirit, but I am the first to admit that this
opinion has basically nothing to do with his usefulness (or lack thereof).
Although MP Absorb, Moon Saber, and Moon Energy are fantastic, Luna's other
spells are nothing more than curious novelties, being randomized and incapable
of causing damage. However, they are incredibly fun to mess around with.
Note that you MUST have Lumina in order to find Luna in the Moon Palace.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LUNA - SPRITE VERSION
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LUNAR MAGIC (8 MP)
Purpose: Making your life more interesting
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: No
Added Effects: Heh heh heh...
Lunar Magic just does weird things. You cannot control the effect of Lunar
Magic, although having a higher level of Luna power might (key word there being
MIGHT) influence it. You cannot specifically target your allies with Lunar
Magic, but sometimes its effects will affect your party instead of or in
addition to the enemies. If you target multiple enemies with Lunar Magic, it
will choose its effect randomly for every enemy, meaning that it might have the
same effect on all targets... or it might not.
To sum it up, Lunar Magic is not a USEFUL spell per se, but it’s a lot of fun
to experiment with when you’re doing some hard-core training and you want to
mess around a little.
Lunar Magic might:
Cause the target to become “burned out”; ATK, HIT, EVD, and DEF will fall.
Cause the target to become “raring to go”; ATK, HIT, EVD, and DEF will rise.
Restore HP to all allies.
Restore HP to all allies AND enemies present on the screen (even if you only
targeted one enemy).
Confuse all allies AND enemies present on the screen (even if you only
targeted one enemy) (the message will be "All are confused!")
Pygmize your entire team (the message will be “World’s bigger?!”)
Mooglify your entire team (the message will be “Kupi ku po po?”)
Render all enemies and allies unconscious (the message will be “Knocked
senseless!”)
Cause an enemy to “Wimp out,” changing them into a weaker enemy for a short
time. Unlike Change Form, this effect is not permanent.
Whether this is the full extent of Lunar Magic's effects or not, I do not know.
These are just the ones that I have personally seen.
CHANGE FORM (5 MP)
Purpose: Transformative
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: No
Added Effects: Transforms target(s) into different species
Change Form permanently transforms one enemy into one of the weak early-game
enemies. For example, if you change a Howler into a Rabite, it will have the HP
and stats of a Rabite, and battle messages will no longer say Howler, but
Rabite. If the Howler’s current HP was lower than 20, its HP would be refilled
to the Rabite maximum of 20. Any status ailments the target was suffering from
(Balloon, etc.) will be removed when Change Form is cast. If the enemy is
changed into a Drop-type enemy, it will be able to multiply in precisely the
same manner as natural Drop-type enemies. For some reason, casting another
spell on the Changed enemy (Analyze, Slow Down, etc.) will cause the enemy to
change form again. It is also worth pointing out that casting this spell on a
Walled enemy WILL reflect it back onto your team, but will NOT have any effect
on you whatsoever.
I have seen Change Form transform monsters into: Rabites, Lullabuds, Kid
Goblins, Mushbooms, and Green Drops. Whether this is the full extent of Change
Form's forms or not, I do not know. Also, apparently the super Level 8.99
Change Form spell will crash the game if it is cast on a boss, due to a bug
of some kind with the animation script. Who knew?
MP ABSORB (1 MP)
Purpose: Cheapness
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: No
Added Effects: Drains MP
MP Absorb makes the Sprite a completely self-sufficient character that can run
through the game ripping enemies to shreds with its magic, stealing more power
from its hapless foes in order to fuel its spells of mass destruction. To put
it more simply, MP Absorb gives the Sprite access to an unlimited amount of MP
as long as there are enemies with more MP to absorb around. Make sure that you
never hit exactly 0 MP and you will always be able to cast this spell to
restore your supply. Similar to HP Absorb, however, be sure not to cast this
on ghost-type enemies, or the Sprite will actually lose MP.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
LUNA - GIRL VERSION
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
MOON ENERGY (2 MP)
Purpose: Statistical
Multitarget: No
Stackable: No
Added Effects: Guarantees critical hits
Moon Energy is actually even better than I originally thought when I wrote
this guide. This unique spell makes the crit rate of the beneficiary 100% for
a number of attacks equal to the Girl's Luna magic level plus one (so maximum
9). Nine guaranteed critical hits for 2 MP is a pretty good tradeoff, and Moon
Energy is well worth casting on the Boy at the start of every boss battle just
to maximize his battle performance. If only Moon Energy could be multi-targeted
on your entire team, it would be absolutely perfect. Still, I shouldn't be
greedy. "Nine guaranteed critical hits" is nothing to sneeze at, after all!
LUNAR BOOST (2 MP)
Purpose: Statistical
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: No
Added Effects: Raises ATK, lowers EVD
Lunar Boost provides a decent damage boost, and its evasion loss isn't great
enough to hamper your chances of survival even in a tough boss battle. The
main problem with Lunar Boost is just that it's outclassed. Saber spells also
provide a damage boost and throw in a status effect (usually) in the bargain,
and Moon Energy is a bigger damage boost overall at no penalty. The nice thing
is, all of these different buffs can stack... but that's a lot of MP that could
be going toward Lucid Barrier or Cure Water instead, and if you're only going
to cast one buff in a boss fight, I'd take a Saber over this. Still, if you're
really looking to maximize the Boy's damage, Lunar Boost will be an important
part of doing so, and on the bright side... at least it's not Evil Gate.
MOON SABER (3 MP)
Purpose: Saber magic
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: No
Added Effects: Drains HP
Moon Saber is absolutely the best saber in the game, better even than Stone
Saber's one-hit kills or Flame Saber's paralyzing pain. Moon Saber basically
adds 25% extra damage to your weapons with no disadvantage (since no enemy I
know of is strong against Moon magic,) then takes that boosted damage you do
AND ADDS IT TO YOUR OWN HP. Every hit you make restores your HP by an equal
amount; do 250 damage and you will be healed for 250 HP. Once you add in
critical hits (Moon Energy, anyone?) the amount of healing you'll be receiving
is just plain ridiculous. Really, this spell is about as crazy as the Sprite's
MP Absorb. Just keep in mind that against undead enemies such as Zombies or the
Dark Lich, your allies will LOSE HP by attacking (but that's what Light Saber
is for, now isn't it?)
############
4.8 Dryad
############
Dryad has a multitude of disadvantages. You gain her powers very late in the
game, meaning you have to build her up in a very short period of time and you
have little opportunity to use her. A grand total of three enemies, none of
them bosses, are weak to her magic, and two of them will be long gone by the
time you obtain it. To top things off, her Mana spell is sealed when you find
her, meaning you only have two spells of hers to work with until the final
battle and one of them (Revivifier) is so bad that it makes Evil Gate look
useful. Regardless, Dryad is a very powerful spirit, who would be a definitive
force to be reckoned with if only you found her earlier.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DRYAD - SPRITE VERSION
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BURST (4 MP)
Purpose: Offensive
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable:
Added Effects: None
Burst is Secret of Mana's version of Ultima. It does a ridiculous amount of
damage to anything you hit with it, and although it costs more than spells
like Gem Missile and Freeze, it does a pretty good job making up for the cost
(against anything that isn't strong against Dryad, at least). Burst is a great
spell for the Sprite to use on enemies weak against light, since it has no
light magic to rely on instead, but is probably a little too overpriced and
overpowered to justify using on your normal garden-variety foes. (Although it
sure is fun to do it anyways!)
SLEEP FLOWER (2 MP)
Purpose: Status effect
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: No
Added Effects: Renders enemies unconscious
Sleep Flower is the Sprite's equivalent of Balloon. It has precisely the same
effect as that most powerful spell, for the same cost and approximately the
same duration. You can still attack the afflicted enemy while they're asleep,
and since the Sprite can restore its own MP but the Girl cannot, Sleep Flower
is probably slightly better than Balloon when taken in a vacuum. However, as
you have Balloon for most of the game and Sleep Flower for the last three
dungeons, Balloon has a definite advantage in practice. Of course, there's no
reason to only use one of these spells; when you're farming for weapon orbs
in the final dungeon, porque no los dos?
MANA MAGIC (1 MP)
Purpose: Special
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: No
Added Effects: Temporarily upgrades the Sword weapon to the Mana Sword
Mana Magic is... well, it actually might be kinda cool if you didn't get it
seconds before the final battle of the game. It temporarily transforms the
Sword weapon into the otherwise-unobtainable (except by glitches) Mana Sword,
regardless of your Sword weapon's current level, making it dramatically more
powerful than anything else you could wield. Upgrading the Boy's weapon for
bosses would be kinda nifty, but as previously stated, you receive the spell
so late that you don't have any time to really play around with it. Use it
while you can.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
DRYAD - GIRL VERSION
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
WALL (6 MP)
Purpose: Status effect
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: No
Added Effects: Reflects spells away from allies towards the enemy party
Wall is a valuable and powerful spell, but unfortunately, owing to the way the
battle system works, it is a little TOO powerful. In effect, Wall works just
like Reflect from the Final Fantasy games: it deflects spells targeting your
party members and redirects them towards your enemies. This means that an
offensive spell cast on your team will "bounce back" at your enemies and cause
damage to them instead. However, by the same token, casting Cure Water on your
allies while Wall is in place will cause it to bounce off onto your enemies
instead.
There are two problems with this spell (aside from the obvious interference
with Cure Water). Firstly, Wall has a chance of not working. On higher levels,
Wall's successful reflection rate rises, but below about level 4, it has a
high chance of just not working. The second problem is much more insidious; the
only way to get rid of Wall is to let its timer run out. Resting at an inn,
casting Remedy, using Medical Herbs; the only spell that removes Wall is Dispel
Magic, which you cannot cast on your own party members. In Final Fantasy,
Reflect ends when the battle does. In Secret of Mana, there is no "end battle,"
meaning Wall does not end until it runs out. On level 8, Wall lasts for a LONG
TIME. This can be inconvenient if you want to renew Lucid Barrier or cast a
Saber spell on your team.
Despite its dangers, Wall is still a powerful and interesting spell, mostly
because once it is cast on your allies, you can cast it on yourself again and
bounce the Wall onto your enemies! This can be amusing when it comes to an
enemy that can cast Cure Water, as Wall "tricks" the enemy into healing you
instead. The same holds true for boosting spells such as Speed Up and Defender,
or even enemies like Steamed Crabs who cast Sabers on themselves; however, for
the 12 MP it costs to cast Wall twice, it's really not worth the effort to
mess around with.
REVIVIFIER (10 MP)
Purpose: Curative
Multitarget: No
Stackable: No
Added Effects: Revives fallen ally
Literally the only thing standing between Evil Gate and the "Worst Spell of the
Millennium" award is this terrible, terrible atrocity of a spell. Revivifier is
first of all noteworthy for being the only spell in the entire game to have a
two-digit MP cost, which, in a game where 99 is the maximum MP, is EXPENSIVE AS
HELL. You MIGHT cast this spell if you somehow run out of Cups of Wishes during
a dungeon, but by the time you have this spell, that should never (and I mean
NEVER) happen. Ever. In all likelihood, you will not cast this spell even once
for any reason other than to see the graphic (which, by the way, is COMPLETELY
underwhelming, as it looks exactly the same as a Cup of Wishes with no added
effort or effect). At least Evil Gate has the Shadow Zero gimmick to make it
cool!
MANA MAGIC (1 MP)
Purpose: Special
Multitarget: Yes
Stackable: No
Added Effects: Temporarily upgrades the Sword weapon to the Mana Sword
Mana Magic is... well, it actually might be kinda cool if you didn't get it
seconds before the final battle of the game. It temporarily transforms the
Sword weapon into the otherwise-unobtainable (except by glitches) Mana Sword,
regardless of your Sword weapon's current level, making it dramatically more
powerful than anything else you could wield. Upgrading the Boy's weapon for
bosses would be kinda nifty, but as previously stated, you receive the spell
so late that you don't have any time to really play around with it. Use it
while you can.
***********************************
5.0 Frequently Asked Questions
***********************************
."How does Saber magic work?"
Saber magic enchants your weapons with a specific element, allowing you to hit
an enemy’s weakness with weaponry instead of spells. It also automatically
boosts the amount of damage done by all physical attacks by 25%. Saber magic
only lasts for a specific number of attacks you make; if you do not use your
weapon to hit things, the Saber enchantment will not wear off. Resting at an
inn does not remove Saber magic, although saving, turning off the game, and
loading previous data will.
."How do you raise your magic level?"
You increase the level of the elemental spirits you receive power from by
casting the spells they grant you. As an elemental spirit rises in level, it
becomes harder and harder to raise them to the next level, because spells will
give you increasingly smaller paybacks. On level 0, casting Moon Energy will
raise Luna by 9 magic points; on level 1, the same spell will only increase
Luna by 8. The level-to-magic-point ratio is as follows:
Level 0 9 points 12 castings.
Level 1 8 points 13 castings. Note: spell animation becomes larger
Level 2 7 points 15 castings.
Level 3 6 points 17 castings.
Level 4 5 points 20 castings. Note: spell animation becomes larger
Level 5 4 points 25 castings.
Level 6 3 points 34 castings.
Level 7 2 points 50 castings.
Level 8 1 point (!) 99 castings (!!!) Note: Chance of Super Spellcasting
A spell cannot actually be powered up to level 9; the gauge stops at 8:99.
."What the bleep is Super Spellcasting?"
Super Spellcasting is a phenomenon that occasionally occurs when a spell has
reached level 8, and seems to happen with slightly more frequency the closer to
8.99 the spell's elemental is. When a spellcasting becomes a Super Spellcast,
the spell's graphics are enhanced and the spell does MUCH more damage than
usual. This happens by chance (and might only happen with offensive spells,
I'm not entirely sure,) but is super-cool when it does happen.
."Why can't I cast Slow Down instead of Earth Slide on a Crystal Orb?"
Because Crystal Orbs are picky. If a Crystal Orb claims to be weak to a certain
element, it is actually specifically weak to a certain SPELL. Thus, if the Orb
wants Earth Slide and you cast Slow Down or Gem Missile on it instead, nothing
whatsoever will happen. It's annoying early on, when you need to conserve MP,
but later on, it really won't matter much.
."Whaddaya mean, you can get Lumina before Shade?"
I describe this in the course of the actual document, but I'll put it here
again. Despite common conception that you gain spirits in the order of Undine,
Gnome, Sylphid, Salamando, Shade, Lumina, Luna, Dryad, you can actually receive
Shade, Lumina, and Luna out of order. Once you get the Flammie Drum, you can
fly to the Gold City immediately to free Lumina instead of going to Mandala
and finding Shade. You MUST have Lumina before you can obtain Luna’s power,
however, since you must cast Lucent Beam on a Crystal Orb inside of the Lunar
Palace in order to find him.
********************************
6.0 Credits and Disclaimers
********************************
Thank you to...
.My roommate, Andrew, who provided me with the Secret of Mana emulator that
enabled me to play it without having my Super Nintendo at school with me.
.My beautiful brilliant bejeweled bedazzling magnificent muffin-lips minx of a
Moogle, who makes me so happy that I just have to create. Thus this document.
Belated thanks to my jaguar as well, as well as two certain special tuxedo
cats and a rather unusual rescue dog, all of whom I love dearly.
.Ultimecia, Dahlia Hawthorne, and Princess Peach: my video game idols.
.Lunar Magic, for being such an unusual spell that I started looking for SOM
spell information, which clued me into the fact that there was no guide on the
subject.
.User Regrs, who pointed out several errors in this document and cleared up
the mysterious damage formula for Evil Gate.
.The RPGDL page for Secret of Mana, which clued me in to harder damage numbers
than my own testing: http://www.rpgdl.com/forums/index.php/topic,1811.0.html
.Squaresoft, for all the fabulous games they've ever made. Final Fantasy 6
forever!
This guide was written in 2008 by me, Ian Sentelik. All of it is my
intellectual property: found by me, experienced by me, and written by me. The
information itself is property of Squaresoft, so ripping this document off is
actually to rip a video game company of monumental proportions off. Good luck.
You are not permitted to copy this document, in part or in whole, without
attributing the proper credit to me. This guide belongs NOWHERE except for
GameFAQs, under the account of Serenitys_Cat.
All rights, including the one to compress time upon anyone who dares to copy
this document, reserved.